Nollywood actress Mercy Aigbe has said that resilience is essential for anyone hoping to succeed in the Nigerian entertainment industry. She recently had her say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.
According to her, the difficult experiences she faced in the early stages of her career actually helped shape the woman she is today.
Mercy added that she wouldn’t be shinning the day if she did not learn from her rough start.
Her words, “The scars that challenge us the most eventually become what shape us. Most times, the scars we try to hide become our strength, growth, and purpose.
People look at Mercy today, all dressed up, beautiful, and shining… but to God be the glory. It wasn’t easy at the beginning.
In life, your scars are going to come with disappointment; people will misunderstand you. I was discouraged and demoralised. But I found courage. That is one thing you need to be successful in the creative industry.
There is a need to believe in yourself and believe in your journey, and I kept going because I believed in myself. I kept attending auditions and giving my best.”
Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in The New York Times. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject to several controversies.
The origin of the term “Nollywood” remains unclear; Jonathan Haynes traced the earliest usage of the word to a 2002 article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times, where it was used to describe Nigerian cinema.
Charles Igwe noted that Norimitsu Onishi also used the name in a September 2002 article he wrote for the New York Times. The term continues to be used in the media to refer to the Nigerian film industry, with its definition later assumed to be a portmanteau of the words “Nigeria” and “Hollywood”, the American major film hub.
Film-making in Nigeria is divided largely along regional, and marginally ethnic and religious lines. Thus, there are distinct film industries – each seeking to portray the concern of the particular section and ethnicity it represents. However, there is the English-language film industry which is a melting pot for filmmaking and filmmakers from most of the regional industries.
